By Nathan Dukes
Moving away from a standardised support program, SAP announced it will offer customers cost effective alternatives to the widely discussed SAP Enterprise Support.
Enterprise Support was announced in 2008 to much squabble, mostly over its proposed pricing structure of 22{db8ca4bbfe57dc8f9b6df9233a3a6c04f4968125edf9bb330d4f787c3a87cd09} of maintenance base, coming into effect from 2015.
After heated debate, and a lengthy KPI program in association with the SAP User Group Executive Network (SUGEN), SAP is now offering customers the ability to choose the support package that suits them best.
Customers will now have a choice between Enterprise Support and Standard Support, a new basic level support package.
Standard Support includes features such as updates, problem resolution, knowledge transfer, quality management and more to keep IT landscapes up-to-date and stable.
Customers with further support needs can look to supplementary support offerings, such as SAP MaxAttention support or SAP Safeguarding services.
SAP AG CEO Leo Apotheker said the decision to offer more choice came as a result of the extensive feedback SAP has received on the topic from user groups and customer alike.
“We have taken into consideration the feedback and suggestions from customers worldwide. As a result, we are now providing consistent, global support alternatives that address differentiated customer needs while continuing to bring the best value and full transparency to our customers with SAP Enterprise Support,” Apotheker said.
SUGEN chairman Mike Stoko said SAP is now offering the choice that customers expect.
“SAP Enterprise Support remains the top support offering on the market, as customers participating in the benchmark program are discovering, and other customers will quickly discover the value as well,” he continued.
SAP also announced that its 2010 fees for existing SAP Enterprise Support contracts will remain unchanged from 2009 levels, but conceded customers currently on fees lower than the SAP-set standard for 2009 ‘may be increased in accord with their contracts’.
